Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi went on trial Monday, as hundreds of riot police ringed the country's most notorious prison to block protesters from proceedings that could send her to jail for five years.
Suu Kyi, who has already spend more than 13 of the last 19 years in detention, has been charged with violating the conditions of her house arrest by sheltering an American man who swam to her lakeside home to secretly visit her earlier this month.
More than 100 Suu Kyi supporters were able to get through an outer perimeter of barricades around Insein prison in Yangon, but not the inner one that was closely guarded by armed police and government supporters. One young protester was seen being taken away by police.
Yettaw's family members have described him as well-intentioned and unaware of the problems he could cause by trying to talk with Suu Kyi, but her supporters have expressed anger at him for getting the Nobel Peace laureate into trouble. Suu Kyi's lawyers have said the 53-year-old from Falcon, Missouri, was not invited to her residence and that she told him to leave.
Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party and one of four lawyers representing her at her trial, said the court rejected their request to open the trial to the public and media "for security reasons." He added that they would repeat their request.
"We are certain that we will win the case if it goes according to law because she didn't break the law," said Nyan Win, speaking at the party's headquarters. Courts in military-run Myanmar have rarely ruled in favor of Suu Kyi or any pro-democracy activists. Trial will resume at 10 am tomorrow, Tuesday 19 May.
************REGIME FORCES BARS AMBASSADOR TO GO FOR LISTENIN ON TRAIL***************
The trial is expected to last about three months, said Nyan Win, spokesman for her National League for Democracy party.
Suu Kyi's lawyer asked the court to open up the hearings but was turned down because of security concerns, Win said.
Police put up roadblocks on the streets leading to the Insean Prison near Yangon, with a half-dozen officers at each station.
A group of diplomats from Germany, Italy, Australia and Britain tried to pass through the barricades to attend the trial. They were stopped and turned away.
"It was a way of signaling our concern at what's happening and the need for the proceedings in the court to take place in an open and transparent fashion," Britain's ambassador to Myanmar, Mark Canning, told CNN.
The American visitor, John Yettaw, is charged with immigration violations and trespassing into a restrictive area, charges that carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
He is accused of staying overnight in Suu Kyi's lakeside home earlier this month, violating the conditions of her house arrest, according to the country's ruling military junta, which rarely grants her visitors.
The central Missouri man was appointed a lawyer selected by the U.S. embassy, Win said.
Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and two of her maids have been detained under Section 22 of the country's legal code -- a law against subversion -- according to Nyan Win, spokesman for Suu Kyi's
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